Today in healthcare: Wednesday 8 January

News, comment and analysis across the sector

David Cameron backed plans to impose a minimum price per unit of alcohol, and then dropped the policy in July last year over a lack of 'concrete evidence' it would reduce harmful drinking. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Good morning and welcome to the daily blog from the Guardian's community for healthcare professionals, offering a roundup of the key news stories across the sector.

If there's a story, report or event you'd like to highlight – or you would like to share your thoughts on any of the healthcare issues in the news today – you can get in touch by leaving a comment below the line or tweeting us at @GdnHealthcare.

It also found one with Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, and another, with the then public heath minister, Anna Soubry, took place after the end of an official consultation into the policy last year.

There's also news that figures published today showing the top 10 causes of death in each London borough have highlighted wide health inequalities between different areas in the capital and prompted a call for co-ordinated action to tackle them. The Guardian's Datablog team has put together an interactive showing what kills Londoners.

The NHS will just be a logo; a most cherished institution reduced from being the main provider of health services in England with one of the biggest workforces in the world, to a US-style insurance scheme, divorced from the delivery of care. Fewer treatments will be available to people as cuts start to bite, with wealthier people able to "top up" treatments. It's not just a postcode lottery – it's also a tax code lottery.

Patients are being denied prompt hip or cataract operations – and the list of hard-to-get services will grow and grow, reducing the NHS to a skeleton. Money that could be spent on patient care is being spent on unnecessary bureaucracy, debt interest and dividends. Meanwhile, Hunt blames individual cash-strapped trusts for making "bad choices".

And we've also a piece from Dean Royles, chief executive of NHS Employers, on women in leadership in the NHS. He calls for men to get involved in the debate, explaining:

... the big opportunity for men is that if we have more women in leadership we get better services. Better for patients, better for our families and better for us. Of all the changes NHS culture needs, this one – on paper at least – should be easier to address.

The biggest challenge for men is that we do not fall victim to unconscious bias. We need to stop seeing the "problem" as one of women's leadership style or education. It is us, and the NHS culture, that needs to change.

It is really important that we as a sector continue to ensure increased participation of women in leadership programmes, training and development. And, for that matter, increased participation among the BME community where the gap is even starker. But more importantly we must look our predisposition and prejudice in the face and change our attitudes and understanding.